Notice: UKHoneyB, who knows a lot more about Max Steel than I do, has informed me that Psycho HAS handled a shock stick before. SO, in the world of The Newcomer, he has not. He was not previously entrusted with one because John Dread was afraid that his psychotic colleague might keep his new weapon in his back pocket and end up shocking his cyborg self in the ass, to put it quite simply. Now that I've cleared up that little matter, on to Chapter 11!
Chapter 11
Max snapped out of his deep sleep and felt something plugged into his biolink. The portable generator! Max sighs in relief.
"Bro, I am SO glad to be..."
Max's voice trailed off as he noticed that he was not back at N'Tek. In fact he was in another cell, almost identical to the other one. He stared at the generator, puzzled. It wasn't the one Berto had built. Instead of the trademark thumbs up logo, there was a black D against a red background.
"Awake, are we?"

Kat flew slowly over the gray snake below her that was the highway. Every time she got to a wooded section, she would dip down lower for a closer look, searching for "bigrocks" as Max had called them. Luckily, there were only two major highways in the area. This one was the first she was following, and there was a fifty percent chance that she had chosen correctly. She felt lucky. Seeing another cluster of trees below her, she decreased her altitude and searched the surrounding area. She didn't actually expect to see anything telltale. This was about the fourth time she had gone to a wooded area for a closer look so far, and she was beginning to get frustrated again. She was about to bang her fist down on the very delicate control panel when she remembered her online anger management course. The course wasn't very helpful, but she had met someone there who went by the alias of UKHoneyB who was a lot like her. Kat's online friend had taught her another way to deal with stress.
"BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!"
Kat let out a long evil laugh that UKHoneyB had insisted worked better than breaking things. Kat let out a sigh of relief. She did feel better. She looked over to the control panel where she saw Berto's half shocked, half worried face looking back at her.
"Um, Kat? Are you okay? I think you might need a vacation after this whole thing is over."
Kat grinned. "Sorry, Martinez. I forgot you were there."
"So you usually just break out into peals of "Bwhaha" when you're alone?" he asked skeptically.
"Maybe, I..." her voice drifted off as she gazed out the window; something had caught her eye.
"Kat? What's wrong?"

"I FOUND IT!"
"What?! Are you sure?!"
"There's a forest nearby, two boulders on the grass, and a cliff! Exactly what Steel said! The base is a big white square. It looks like it only has one floor, but most of it's probably underground."
"Ok, I've got your coordinates. I'll send in Rachel and Jake, but they won't be there for another five minutes. Until then, you're on your own."
"Just how I like it."

Max sat up in his cell. He was sitting on the floor, the generator still hooked up to him. John Dread was on the other side of the bars, about six feet away.
"What, no Smiley?"
Dread sighed. "Psycho is currently being instructed on the correct way to use a shock stick. He seems to have been a bit overenthusiastic with it. You've been out for quite some time, Mr. Steel."
"I always have enjoyed sleeping in. Why am I here?"
"You mean as opposed to being dissected? Well, I figured we'd have a little chat first. A little question and answer."
"Why?" Max asked cautiously.
"Well, I thought we could make a little trade. You tell me what I want to know about N'Tek, and I'll let you free."
Max rolled his eyes. He knew that was going to happen any time soon. Gesturing towards the portable generator, he said "Looks like you already know a lot about N'Tek if you could duplicate the technology."
"Mairot served his purposes. He gave us an abundance of useful information, including the electronic blueprints of certain devices. However, he is gone now, and much of what he was given us is quite outdated."
"My sympathy," Max answered sarcastically.

Kat crept towards the building, holding a small EMP the size of a lighter that she had threatened Max with many times when he had pissed her off. At the moment, however, it wasn't for Max, but for the security cameras that conveniently were shut down until she was safely passed them. Not carrying any real weapon, she was carrying a two liter bottle filled with gasoline and a book of matches, both of which had been obtained from a nearby gas station. The agent had a strong feeling that the owner of the gas station had called the cops right after she had left.
Kat made her way to the entrance to the ventilation system. The entrance was usually guarded by crisscrossing lasers, but they too had been disabled with the help of her trusty EMP. She found herself in the desired location; an air conditioning duct. She crawled through the vents slowly, not wanting to make a sound. She knew exactly where she was going. Though she hadn't known the location of the building, she did know the layout, because she knew that Dread built all his bases alike. It was easier for everyone. Including his enemies, she thought with a smirk.
As she slowly made her way towards the room she knew to be Dread's office, she heard snatches of conversations from the rooms below her.
"No, you stupid microwave, you're not supposed to hold that end. You'll end up shocking yourself when you turn the blasted thing on!"
Kat stopped for a second, vaguely recognizing the voice, and wondering why whoever it was happened to be talking to a microwave. She shook her head and kept going. About five minutes later she heard two more people talking.
"Can I ask you another question?"
"Of course, Akili-chan, why wouldn't I let you ask me a question?"
"Well, I thought all my questions might start to get annoying."
"No, I told you already, I love questions! Ask away!"
"Oh, okay then."
Kat didn't stop this time. She couldn't stop and listen to every conversation she heard along the way. Even when, ten minutes later, she heard a semi-familiar sound.
"BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Will somebody stop her already?"
"We can't, we're her assistants, remember?"
"Well, what are we supposed to be helping her with?"
"She's trying to build a new arm for Psycho."
"Oh."
Kat wondered if the laugh could possibly be from...no. She shook her head and told herself to just concentrate on the mission. In another two minutes, she reached the room she was looking for. Dread's office. The cover to the ventilation system was screwed tightly on, and to kick it off would make too much noise and alert the guards of her presence. That was what the gasoline and matches were for. She unscrewed the bottle and dumped its contents down through the vent. It landed in an enormous puddle in the middle of the office. That part was easy, but it took her five attempts to get a lighted match through the vent without it being snuffed out. She was just glad that the ventilation system wasn't actually being used at the moment.

Dread balled his fists in frustration. The fire alarm was going off. If one of the imbeciles in the lab has set fire to something on their break again, I will personally cut off their heads and hang them in my office! Things were routinely being set on fire in an evil science lab, so the building was no longer evacuated when the fire alarm went off. The base was so big that people usually just exited the effected area and were safe. However, the alarm was INCERDIBLY annoying. Glancing back at Max, he smiled. At least some good was coming out of the situation. Max covered his ears as best he could, but his face was still twisted in pain. His head hurt as it was already, and his ultra sensitive haring didn't exactly come in handy when there was an alarm going off.
"Well, Mr. Steel, I see that you're probably not going to be in any condition to talk for a while, so I think I'll just send Psycho back here to watch you while I see what is going on."
"Oh joy," came the strained reply.
Dread laughed. "See you soon."
He picked up the phone and dialed a four-digit number. "Psycho, you're reassigned to guard duty. Come down here now."
Max could almost hear the anger in Psycho's voice. They would be in the same situation before, but Max doubted he would get hold of Psycho's boot again. Too bad.
In the time it had taken Psycho to arrive, the alarm had gone off. Most of the DREDD employees, John Dread, Abigail, and the guards included had gone to see what was wrong. Psycho and Max were the only once in the immediate area.
Max was feeling much better now that the alarm had stopped going off, although his head still throbbed. "Hello, Smiley!" he chirped.
"You better not be annoying this time, Steel," the cyborg threatened.
"Why not?"
"Because I have...DAMN IT! I LEFT IT BACK WITH THE REDHEAD!" Psycho raged around the room kicking at the wall, but he had to stop when he actually put his foot through the plaster.
Max, seeing Psycho's rage took a deep breath. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer..."
Psycho spun around. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

It was much easier for Kat to find Max than it was for her to find Dread's office, and that was pretty simple in itself. All she had to do was follow the sounds of Psycho's voice. He sounded very angry. She just hoped he wasn't armed. She did NOT like to deal with disgruntled cyborgs with firearms. As she got closer to her destination, according to Psycho's voice, she heard another voice and found out what had the cyborg so enraged.
"Seventy-two bottle of beer on the wall, seventy-two bottles of beer..."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF YOUR NECK AND THEN YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SING ANYMORE! HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THAT?!"
"You take one down and pass it around, seventy-one bottles of beer on the wall!"
Kat laughed, and the sound echoed in the small space. Luckily, psycho was still raging, and his voice drowned out hers. Reaching the grate, she looked down and saw she was directly above Max. Realizing she would have to move quickly, she yelled "STEEL! MOVE!"
Max automatically dove to the right just as Kat kicked the metal grate as hard as she could. It fell to the floor with a clatter. She thrust her arms through the opening. "JUMP!"
Max, actually listening to orders for once, jumped, grabbed her arms, and with Kat's help managed to pull himself into the duct.
"Follow me!"
Kat crawled as quickly away from the room as she could, going towards the nearest exit. Even then, the two heard Psycho curse and metal against metal as he flipped the switch that got rid of the bars to the cell. The cyborg jumped up, and got his claw into the hole where the grate used to be.
"KAT! HURRY UP!"
Kat, although already moving quickly, sped up even more. Max delivered a sharp kick to the bionic claw, which skittered against the smooth metal of the duct. Losing his grip, Psycho fell back to the floor, and at the same time realized that he wouldn't have been able to fit through the grate anyway. Max had almost gotten stuck in the opening.
"DAMN YOU STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"
The cyborg's voice faded as the two N'Tek agents moved further away from the room.